What I want to know is... where the hell is there a Wal*Mart in NY? Sure isn't NYC...
NEW YORK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Monday it fired a systems technician who allegedly recorded phone conversations between the company's public relations office and a newspaper reporter. The case is now being investigated by federal authorities.
Wal-Mart said the technician, whom it did not identify, also intercepted text messages using his own personal equipment. The retailer said he was acting alone, but declined to say what his motive may have been.
Wal-Mart said its internal investigation began on Jan. 11 after an unidentified party alerted the company. That led to the discovery that the technician had monitored and recorded phone conversations between Wal-Mart's public relations staffers and a New York Times reporter between September 2006 and January 2007. Wal-Mart said it notified The New York Times earlier Monday.
A New York Times spokeswoman, Diane McNulty, identified the reporter as retail writer Michael Barbaro. She said the newspaper does not plan "to take any legal action at this time."
During the investigation, Wal-Mart said it discovered that, in separate instances, the same technician had intercepted text and pager messages, including communications that did not involve Wal-Mart employees.
The eavesdropping by an employee is only the latest controversy for the world's largest retailer, whose stock has been battered in recent months as sales growth stalled. The company also has been targeted by union-back groups about its health care benefits and wages. It also is fighting a class action lawsuit that accuses it of gender discrimination.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said the technician "acted alone" and used his own personal equipment to intercept the text messages. "I can't speak for why he did what he did," she said.
Williams declined to identify who the targets were besides the Times reporter, but said they did not include the company's union-backed critics like WakeUpWalmart.com or Wal-Mart Watch. No other journalists' calls or messages were tapped, she said.
But Chris Kofinis, a spokesman for WakeUpWalmart.com, questioned that assertion, saying "we're deeply concerned that our privacy was violated."
Williams said the technician gave Wal-Mart some indication about why he targeted the New York Times reporter, who has been covering such issues as the company's labor rescheduling program and wage capping, but couldn't go into detail now that the investigation has been turned over to federal authorities.
Barbaro declined comment.
Wal-Mart said it would never authorize the interception of text messages and pages that do not involve Wal-Mart associates, the company's name for its workers.
Wal-Mart said it notified its audit committee of the allegations on Jan. 12 and on the next day, attorneys for the company notified the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
The company kept the U.S. Attorney updated during its internal investigation. Last Thursday, the U.S. Attorney notified Wal-Mart that it would conduct its own investigation.
"We are looking at this to determine if there has been a violation of federal law in our jurisdiction," said U.S. Assistant Attorney General Deborah Groom Monday. "That's really the only comment I can make at this time."
FBI officials in Washington said Monday the agency is reviewing the information "to determine if there was a violation of federal law and if the FBI has jurisdiction."
The company said it believes the unauthorized recording of telephone conversations by the systems technician did not violate any applicable federal or state laws because Wal-Mart policies subject all employees communications to possible monitoring or recording.
However, Wal-Mart said it records associate phone calls only in "compelling circumstances and with written permission from the legal department." The company said that the threshold for this permission is "high and limited to cases of high risk to the company or its associates, such as suspected criminal fraud or security issues."
In addition to firing the technician, Williams said it also fired the technician's direct supervisor and has taken disciplinary action against a management associate for failure to carry out their management duties.
Wal-Mart announced that it has taken a number of steps to strengthen its policies and controls surrounding the monitoring of recording of communications, effective immediately. It has also physically removed the recording equipment and any related hardware from the system.
"The company believes that these pager intercepts and the recordings of these telephone calls were wrong and has taken a number of actions to further strengthen our policies and controls," said Williams in a statement.
